Kingdom Come
by AKindofMagic93
Summary: After Thanos's attack on the Asgardian refugee ship, Loki is left floating in space, barely clinging onto the threads of life. Some time later, he isn't sure how long exactly, he's rescued by an injured Tony Stark and a revenge-fuelled Nebula. Full summary inside. Post-IW. Ignores Endgame.
1. Chapter One

**Other Relationships:** Loki/Sigyn, Tony/Bucky, possible future Tony/Bucky/Steve

**Notes:** Captain Marvel won't be appearing since I don't think I'd be able to do her justice as a character, and I wouldn't know where to fit her in the plot anyway. Valkyrie, Korg, Miek and the other surviving Asgardians may appear later on, but they probably won't play any major role in the story. This takes place directly after Infinity War ends and is canon-compliant up to and including Ant-Man and the Wasp. This is my first Marvel fic, so if any of the characterisations are a little off, please let me know. :) This is also being posted on AO3.

**Disclaimer:** Everything recognisable belongs to Marvel.

**Summary:** After Thanos's attack on the Asgardian refugee ship, Loki is left floating in space, barely clinging onto the threads of life. Some time later, he isn't sure how long exactly, he's rescued by an injured Tony Stark and a revenge-fuelled Nebula.

Meanwhile, Aurora Stark was having a perfectly normal day at work when her colleagues suddenly turned to dust before her. It wasn't the weirdest thing that had ever happened to her (you see a lot of crazy shit when you're related to an Avenger) but it was definitely the most devastating.

Neither of them really want to join the fight against Thanos, but they don't have much of a choice, especially since they may hold the key on how to defeat him once and for all.

* * *

**Kingdom Come**

**Chapter One**

Silence. Nothingness. Loki was vaguely aware he was floating in the depths of space, just barely managing to cling onto the tendrils of life, but he wasn't aware of much else. His head felt fuzzy, his lungs were in agony, and he couldn't move beyond an occasional twitch of the fingers. He idly wondered if it was his Jotun blood that was stopping him from freezing to death. He'd been in agony when he'd fallen through the wormhole too, but that had been a different sort of pain; then he'd felt like he was being twisted in every way possible and torn apart and then put back together again. At least that had come to an end. Now it seemed he was doomed to float in space forever, hovering between life and death. He supposed he had his magic to thank for that, though now it felt more like a curse than a blessing.

His eyes flickered open as he sensed something nearby. Even that simple, small movement took a lot of effort and energy that he didn't have. It was a ship. A rather broken looking ship, but a ship nonetheless. Maybe he wouldn't have to float in space forever after all. As he slipped into unconsciousness again, he thought he could feel something, or maybe it was someone, gripping his arm, pulling at him. He only hoped it wasn't Thanos or his minions come to finish him off.

* * *

Silence. No one said a word. The air was thick with the losses they had endured, each one of them coming to terms with what had happened. They had lost. None of them had really thought they would lose, they couldn't afford to think that way, and they had always managed to pull through before, no matter how long the odds. New York. Sokovia. Every mission in between. They'd been fewer in number back then, and even with the Dora Milaje and M'Baku's army, they hadn't been able to defeat Thanos. They had lost more than just a battle: they had lost hope, and they had lost people they loved. Wakanda had lost her King, Shuri her brother. Rocket had lost his best friend. Wanda. Vision. Sam. Bucky. Tony. They were all gone.

Steve's head sank into his hands. He had watched his best friend die right in front of him all over again, had discovered his other best friend was gone too, and now it felt like he had no one. He was all alone, like he was when he woke up after seventy odd years on ice. He pushed the heels of his palms into his eyes, willing the tears not to fall; he had to be strong for the others. He felt a hand fall on his shoulder - Natasha, probably - and tried to subtly wipe at his eyes before looking up at the others sat around the table. Nat's expression was as impassive as ever, but Steve could see the pain hidden behind her eyes. Thor sat solemnly, no doubt thinking of all that he had lost; he had informed them earlier that Thanos had killed Loki on their way to Earth. Rhodey was twirling his phone between his fingers, waiting for a call that would never come. Bruce looked angry and disappointed in himself, but Steve doubted whether the Hulk would have made much difference in the end.

Natasha leaned forward, her hand dropping from Steve's shoulder, her elbows resting on the table, "So, what next, Steve?"

Steve let out a deep breath, thinking his words through before he spoke. Shuri and Okoye were seeing off M'Baku, who was heading with what remained of his tribe back to his lands, though he had promised to come to their aid again should they need it. Rocket was busy building a beacon, hoping the Guardians were still out there and would find him. "We take some time and we regroup. When we fight Thanos again, we'll be stronger, we'll have a plan and we won't lose."

The prospect of fighting Thanos again was a daunting one, and Steve could see on his teammates' faces that they doubted whether they'd ever win against Thanos, but Steve would be damned before he let go of the little hope he had left.

* * *

Silence. Tony hated silence. It reminded him of New York, falling through the void of space, not knowing whether he'd make it back to Earth. It reminded him of lonely nights where his only company was intrusive thoughts screaming at him in a voice that was oddly similar to his father's. It reminded him of Afghanistan, the calm before the storm, trapped in a cave with nothing but the drip, drip, drip of water as he awaited his fate. At least the whirring of the ship's engines was something for him to focus on. He and Nebula had barely spoken beyond quick introductions and instructions for fixing the ship. She was the strong and silent type, and Tony could appreciate that. It was better than all those people who jabbered on and on endlessly without ever really saying anything. She'd helped him with his injuries without saying a word, and he had offered to take a look at her robotic parts when he saw they were causing her pain. Afterwards, she had uttered a quiet, "Thank you," and Tony figured that would be the most emotion he would ever see from her.

Neither of them knew how long it would take to get to Earth. They'd latched onto a signal, some sort of beacon, that seemed to be coming from the same area of space as Earth, so they'd set their course and hoped for the best. The ship was on its last legs though. They'd fixed it up as best they could, but who knew how long it would be before it broke down beyond repair. Even if it didn't break down, there was every possibility they would run out of fuel or food or water. Tony had already come to terms with the fact that he may very well die in this old, broken ship in the middle of space, without anyone ever knowing what had happened to him.

Tony was sat in the pilot's chair in the cockpit, feet propped up on the dashboard, tinkering with the helmet of his suit. Nebula was off doing whatever it was she did when the two of them weren't trying to fix some part of the ship. Tony didn't like to ask, she was scary even when she wasn't trying to be. He stared out at the expanse of space before him; space really was beautiful, he thought, with all its glittering stars and colourful nebulae, and in any other situation, Tony would be thrilled at the chance to explore the numerous star systems and planets out there. As it was, he just wanted to get home.

Something in the middle distance caught his eye. At first glance it looked like an asteroid field, but as the ship steadily got closer, Tony realised it was a debris field. Broken ship parts and bodies littered the space before him. He had a funny feeling that Thanos had something to do with this. Just as he was about to steer the ship away, not wanting to risk the ship's already damaged shields, he spotted someone familiar. His skin was blue in colour and if Tony squinted he could just make out strange markings on his face, but there was no mistaking the black hair and green garb. Loki. He would have left him where he was had it not been for the slight twitch of his fingers and the flickering of his eyes. "Nebula!" Tony shouted, scrambling out of his seat and dashing out of the cockpit into the main area of the ship, feeling more alive than he had done since being on Titan.

* * *

Silence. The museum had been a bustling hive of activity, tourists scuttling around and chatting to each other about the exhibits; now there was nothing but silence. One minute Aurora Stark had been regaling some tourists with the history of a priceless artefact, the next minute they were turning to dust right in front of her. Museum regulars, complete strangers, co-workers, her boss. None were immune to whatever was happening. Silence surrounded those that were left, no one knew what to say or do, Aurora included. On some level she knew what had happened, knew it had something to do with Thanos. Her cousin Tony had told her about him, about what he'd seen when he'd sent that missile into space. She knew what the piles of dust meant. It meant Thanos had won.

She sat on the steps outside the museum. Her knee bounced up and down in agitation, her head was bowed, loose strands of reddish-purple hair falling into her face and her green eyes stared at the ground beneath her feet. She knew if she looked up, all she'd see would be panicked and distraught faces and a street lined with dust. People were screaming and a fire was raging down the street from where a helicopter had crashed into a building. A car had been rear-ended by another on the road directly in front of her, and she had seen a plane rapidly plummeting in the sky above her. A few drops of water fell onto the back of her neck and she glanced up at the sky as the clouds burst and released a downpour that washed away all the dust within seconds.

Aurora stood and turned, kicking the step in frustration. She hated feeling so helpless; if she had known what was going on then maybe she could've helped, helped to stop innocent people's lives being so needlessly wasted. She stood in the rain for a few moments more before heading back inside and down to the museum's archives, the one place that always managed to ground and calm her when waves of melancholy or anger washed over, sometimes seemingly for no apparent reason. She tried ringing Tony several times, but he wasn't answering his phone. Tony always took her calls, whatever time of day or night, whatever else he was doing, he always answered. Aurora started to fear the worst. She threw her phone onto the table next to her in frustration, and rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. _He wasn't gone, he just wasn't, he couldn't be_.

* * *

Where they went from here, none of them had a clue.

* * *

_Reviews are always appreciated! :)_


	2. Chapter Two

_A/N: Apologies for the wait. I'm not super happy with this chapter, but I just wanted to get it posted._

* * *

**Chapter Two**

What was that noise? He shouldn't be able to hear anything; he was in space and space was a vacuum. Maybe he was so starved for air he was starting to hear things, starting to lose his grip on sanity. He tried to open his eyes or move his hand, something, but his muscles ached and wouldn't do what he wanted. As he sank back into unconsciousness, he thought he could hear voices murmuring in the background, but that couldn't be. He was alone and always would be.

* * *

Some time later, red eyes opened to dim lights and whirring engines that stuttered and stopped before starting up again. One of the lights above him flickered before going out altogether. He heard a faint call of, "Tony, he's awake!" before his vision was filled with an upside down Tony Stark. Loki groaned. Of all the people to find him floating in the depths of space, did it really have to be the man he had once defenestrated? But, he supposed, he should just be thankful that _someone_ had found him at all.

"Hey, Smurf! How're you feeling?"

Loki tried to sit up, but his limbs protested and his lungs still burned from being starved of oxygen for so long.

"Woah, hey, no, you need to rest, who knows how long you were floating around out there." Tony pushed against Loki's shoulders, forcing him to lay back down.

"Where am I?" Loki just about managed to croak out.

"A ship, though I think you already worked that out, as for where in space, somewhere between Titan and Earth hopefully, but I can't be any more specific than that."

Loki didn't know how to respond to that. Truthfully, he didn't know where they were either and he could barely remember what had happened in the moments before he found himself floating in space, let alone what part of space they were actually in. "Does the ship's navigation system not provide an answer?"

"Navigation's down, as are a lot of other systems. The ship's barely holding together as it is."

Loki tried to nod from his lying down position but it only caused the pounding in his head to worsen.

Tony left his field of vision and sat down somewhere next to him. Loki turned his head and saw him tinkering with what appeared to be the helmet of his Iron Man suit. "Why so blue?" Tony asked.

"Pardon?" Loki's brows furrowed in confusion.

Tony gestured to Loki's blue form.

Loki raised one of his hands into his eyeline, and managed to call on enough magic to return to his preferred Asgardian form. But it was too late, Tony had already seen everything. "It's my natural form," he said, letting out a sigh.

"Huh," Tony said, looking intrigued, "so is Thor blue too?"

"No. I am not Asgardian by birth. I am Jotun - a Frost Giant."

"That's pretty cool - pun intended."

Thankfully, Loki was familiar enough with Midgardian slang to understand what Tony meant.

"If you two are quite finished, we have more important things to deal with," Nebula said, entering the room.

Tony sighed and stood, "Give it to me, Neb."

Nebula cocked her head slightly, not as familiar with Midgardian slang as Loki was, but nevertheless replied, "The engine's getting worse, and while that is potentially fixable, the fact we are running out of fuel is not. That, and the life support systems keep flickering on and off, if they shut down altogether, it's going to be a problem."

Tony let out another long-suffering sigh before picking up a stained rag and what appeared to be a toolbox.

Loki pushed himself into a sitting position. His magic was returning to him as each second passed, and with that his strength. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You," Tony said, pointing a screwdriver at him, "need to rest. You're no good to anyone half-dead."

"I'm fine, truly. Asgardians and Jotun are both much faster healers than you weak mortals."

Tony raised an eyebrow at the insult, "I'm going to ignore that. But unless you can teleport us out of this death-trap..."

Loki smirked at that, "Actually, Stark, I can."

* * *

They appeared in Wakanda. Tony wasn't sure what he had been expecting when Loki teleported them to the location the beacon was transmitting from, but it wasn't this. All the remaining Avengers were surrounding them, weapons in hands, battle ready and pissed off looks on their faces. "Well, hello to you too."

Steve relaxed and lowered his shield when he realised who it was. "Sorry, we got an alert that someone was breaching the shields. Can't be too careful, you know."

Tony nodded as Steve stepped forward and held out his hand. "Good to see you, Tony."

Tony took his hand and gave it a firm shake. "You too, Cap." He smiled, but it was forced. It was still hard for him to forget everything that had gone between them. He'd thought Steve was his friend, someone he could trust, but he turned out to be just another person who betrayed him.

He clocked someone coming towards him over Steve's shoulder and soon had an armful of his best friend. "You're a lucky son of a bitch, you know that?"

"Tell me about it." Knowing his best and oldest friend had survived Thanos felt like a huge weight off his shoulders. Rhodey had always been there for him, through all the tough times he'd never left, and he was one of the few people Tony found himself able to rely on. He didn't think he'd have been able to cope if Rhodey hadn't made it.

Tony pulled back to look round at the other Avengers; Bruce was here and Nat, and what appeared to be a raccoon was talking to Nebula. King T'Challa was nowhere to be seen, but his sister Shuri was stood off to the side. Clint was absent, as was Lang, but they were both on house arrest so Tony hoped they weren't here because of that.

Thor was with Loki, looking for all the world as though he was trying to squeeze the life out of him - which, with those two you never knew. "You are impossible, brother," Tony could hear Thor say, "and you need to stop doing this."

"What, dying? Or coming back to life?" Loki quipped.

"The dying, definitely the dying." Thor had let go of Loki now, and was looking him over, as if to check he was alright and it was really him.

Tony kept looking around, his eyes searching for one person in particular. No Wanda, no Vision, no Wilson... No Bucky. Tony's heart leapt into his throat. No, it couldn't be. He couldn't be. He looked at Rhodey, asking a silent question with his eyes. Rhodey gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head, and Tony wanted to fall to his knees right then and there. He swallowed back the tears that wanted to form, aware that Steve was still watching him, and asked, "Pepper?"

"Pepper's fine, she and Happy are dealing with the fallout of half of Stark Industries' staff disappearing."

Tony nodded, at a loss for what else to say. He was glad his oldest friends were all okay, but Bucky... What they'd had was still so new, but if one thing was clear, it was that they'd grown to care for each other deeply. After the fallout from the so-called 'Civil War', Tony had spent a lot of time in Wakanda helping Shuri to restore Bucky's memories and clear his mind of all the Hydra programming. During that time they'd gotten to know each other quite well, and Tony realised that underneath the Winter Soldier persona, James Buchanan Barnes was actually incredibly funny, sweet and one of the few genuinely nice people Tony had ever met. Tony had started to develop feelings for the Sergeant, but had stopped himself acting on it when Bucky was in such a vulnerable state. In the end, Bucky had made the first move, when his mental state was much better and Tony had taken him out for dinner as a mini-celebration for finally getting rid of all the Hydra brainwashing. They'd kept it on the downlow, and the only people that knew were Tony's close circle of Pepper, Happy, Rhodey and Aurora. Shuri knew too, because it seemed impossible to keep anything from her.

Thankfully, Tony was saved from having to say anything by Shuri. "Mr Stark, it's a pleasure to have you back in Wakanda. I'll have someone show you to your room."

"Thank you, your highness," Tony just about managed to croak out.

* * *

Aurora had been so focused on her work that when the call finally came, she almost missed it. She practically dove for her phone when she realised it was ringing, almost knocking it off the table in her haste. She was only slightly disappointed to see that it was Rhodey, not Tony, that was ringing.

As she accepted the video call, however, she found that it wasn't Rhodey on the other end. "Hey, Rory."

"Tony! Thank God!" Aurora sank onto the seat behind her in relief. Tony, quite frankly, looked terrible; he looked like he'd been to hell and back. There were dark circles round his eyes, and they held a sadness, along with a dark look that suggested a thirst for vengeance. His voice was raspy, like he was injured or had been shouting or crying. It wouldn't surprise her if he had been; Rhodey had told her that Bucky hadn't made it, and she knew that loss would have devastated her cousin.

"How're you doing? Your parents? Rhodey didn't mention whether..." he trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"They're fine. Hannah and David didn't make it though," her voice caught as she mentioned her sibling's names. "What about Peter? I spoke to Rhodey and Pepper and Happy, but none of them knew anything."

Tony looked away from the screen, still trying to come to terms with what had happened. He closed his eyes in very obvious pain and Aurora swore she saw a few tears escape from the corners of his eyes. He whispered out a, "No," that didn't need saying, because Aurora could see the heartbreak so clearly on his face. She knew he'd blame himself, see it as a failure on his part for whatever losses they had endured, despite it not being his fault in the slightest.

"Tony, I'm so sorry." She wanted nothing more than to give him a hug, she knew he had loved Peter like a son. Aurora had always been fond of him too and despite having only met him a handful of times, the kid had managed to worm his way into her heart as well. "What do you need?"

Tony blinked away his tears and looked back at the screen, his brown eyes filled with the determination and resilience of the fighter Aurora knew he was. "I need you to find Clint and Lang and come to Wakanda. We need all the help we can get."

Aurora nodded, "You got it."

* * *

_Reviews are always appreciated! :D_


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